The Pistons, who never trailed, got 15 points from Brandon Knight and 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds from Drummond. Detroit hadn’t beaten anyone other than the Cavaliers since late November.

The teams meet again Saturday night in the nation’s capital, but the Wizards will have to play a much better game to have a shot at splitting the home-and-home series.

Washington only dressed nine players, with John Wall, Trevor Ariza, Bradley Beal and Nene among the unavailable players, and lost their sixth straight.

Jordan Crawford led Washington with 20 points, but two other players reached double figures.

Detroit’s biggest problem may have been a fourth-quarter injury to Rodney Stuckey, who went immediately to the locker room after getting hit in the mouth on a drive.

Stuckey didn’t lose any teeth, but did not return to the game. With Stuckey unable to shoot his free throws, the Pistons chose Slava Kravtsov to take them. In his NBA debut, the Ukrainian rookie made 1 of 2.

The game got off to an ugly start, as the teams combined to miss 17 of their first 19 shots. Detroit finally got enough offense going to build a 9-2 lead midway through the first, and the game never got much better.

Washington shot 26 percent in the first quarter and 32 percent in the first half, and only Jordan Crawford’s 14 points kept them from being behind by more than 53-34 at the intermission.

In contrast, Detroit had three scorers in double figures by halftime and had 13 assists on 19 field goals.

The Pistons didn’t let up in the third quarter, moving the advantage to 26, and they were up by as many as 34 down the stretch.

NOTES: Crawford picked up a third-quarter technical foul for arguing a call, and had to be led away from referee Michael Smith by teammate Emeka Okafor. Later in the quarter, when Crawford didn’t get a call on a drive to the basket, Wizards coach Randy Wittman yelled “Don’t hold a grudge, Mike. Give us a call.” … In an attempt to boost their struggling attendance, the Pistons will have halftime concerts from MC Hammer (Dec. 28) and Sheila E (Dec. 30) at their next two home games. After leading the league in attendance during much of the past decade, Detroit has trouble filling half the arena for most games. … Cartier Martin was called for a flagrant foul for a hard screen on Drummond in the fourth.

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